The Word & The SupernaturalJoin Forces to Bring Victory--

Strongholds

BIBLICAL PROSPERITYWholeness

Bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus

1. Money—we are not to be broke

2. Healing—God heals the sick

3. Peace—We can have peace

4. Delivered—from demons, habits

5. Salvation from sins—to be forgiven

Luke 4:18-19

‘The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed

One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor;

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons

we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine

power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of

God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.

And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is

complete.”

John 3:5-8

“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives

birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born

again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you

cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the

Spirit.”

HOLY SPIRIT

Spirit Soul

Mind, Will, Emotions

Body

Weak

“Lord, help me remember that real spiritual battles are fought and won in the Spirit.

I’m so often tempted to focus on my physical appearance and the condition of my body. I even frequently judge myself

by how physically ‘in shape’ I am. But the fight I need to win isn’t going to be won by

my physical appearance.

Yes, I want to be in good physical shape, and I ask You to help me achieve that goal.

But please keep me from getting distracted by the less-than-pleasurable aspects of my physical body. Help me

stay focused on the spiritual realm where the real battle is being waged.’

Rick Renner

Sparkling Gems

“Sometimes I think we owe it to people when they come to the Lord to warn them

that if they are going to move into the Kingdom, it will be through tribulation and

opposition.”

Derek Prince

Rules of Engagement

Stratos = strategy

Carpet bomb praying

Smart bomb praying

HOW do we fight?

WHAT do we fight?

STRONGHOLDS

Ochuroma = Fortress, castle, citadel, fortified place

Where are these strongholds?

IN OUR MINDS

2 Kinds of Strongholds

Rational

Irrational

A stronghold is any pattern of thought that does not line up with God’s Word

2 Corinthians 10:5

Rational strongholds

“[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against

the [true] knowledge of God;

Logismos = logic or logical thinking

“Your logical mind will always try to talk you out of obeying God. In fact if you don’t take charge of your mind, it will

begin to completely dominate and control your obedience to God. It will tell you that you can’t afford to obey the Lord and that

it isn’t a good time to step out in faith. Your natural mind will come up with a

whole host of logical reasons to explain why you shouldn’t do what the Spirit of

God is telling you to do.”Rick Renner

Sparkling Gems

Irrational Strongholds

“These primarily have to do with completely unrealistic fears and worries, such as a fear of contracting a terminal disease, a fear of dying early in life, an

abnormal fear of rejection, and so forth.

These types of irrational strongholds in the mind, emotions, and imagination will normally play their course and then dissipate. But if harassing thoughts

persist in your mind and insist on controlling you mentally and emotionally, you must deal with them straightforwardly

with the Word of God.”

Rick Renner

Sparkling Gems

Strongholds start in our mind and then burrow into our emotions.

2 Corinthians 10:5

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive

every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Strongholds are sown in our heart through

1. Ideas

2. People saying things

3. Fear

The Word of God Casts Down Arguments

2 Corinthians 10:5

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive

every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Creflo Dollar

• Negative words = negative thinking

• Negative thinking = negative emotions

• Negative emotions = negative decisions

• Negative decisions = negative actions

• Negative actions = negative character

• Negative character = will bring you to the wrong or negative destination

• The Word of God will produce thinking that will line up with the Word of God

• Thinking that lines up with the Word of God will produce how you feel.

• Emotions that line up with the Word will produce Godly decisions

• Godly decisions that line up with the Word produce Godly actions

• Godly actions that line up with the Word produce Godly habits

• Godly habits produce Godly character (character is doing what’s right because it’s right)

• Godly character will produce Godly destination and bring you to where God destined for you to be.

PRAYER

“Lord I don’t want the devil to fill my mind with insinuations and lies. My mind

belongs to You, and the devil has no right to flood me with false perceptions, vain imaginations, or lies about who I am or what I will never be. I refuse to let him

operate in me any longer!

PRAYER

You have provided me with the helmet of salvation, and by faith, I put it on to protect my mind against the devil’s

assaults. He can strike as hard as he wishes, but Your Spirit and Word protect

me! I pray this in Jesus’ Name!

 

CONFESSION

I confess that I bring every thought into the captivity of Christ! When the devil

tries to invade my mind with lies, I capture those lies and drive them clear

out of my brain! Rather than fall victim to the devil’s attacks, I seize every thought that he tries to use to penetrate my mind and emotions. I grab each lie and force it into submission! Because I stand firm on the Word, the enemy’s lies are not able to

exert any power against me. I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

 

Rick Renner

Sparkling Gems